Uncertainty over I-League matches in Vasco

VASCO/PANJIM: First it was December, then January. Subsequently, it became February and now it could be March. Goans are now used to such delays, nothing abnormal indeed. Hopefully, the contractor who took up the work of Tilak Stadium in Vasco will complete the work by March, so that the I-league matches would be played at the venue thereafter. 

The renovation work started in October so that the I-League matches would be shifted from December to Nehru stadium at Fatorda, which is undergoing massive renovation work. 

Since the work at Tilak was taking undue time, matches were shifted to Duler stadium, Mapusa after postponing one round matches, with the Goan I-league teams happy with the arrangements. The atmosphere, the teams pointed out, is excellent, with good turn out with steady flow from Siolim fans, the surface appealing, although the number of players’ casualties has increased as the undersurface has not compacted as yet. In terms of money collection, the teams found it much higher than that at Fatorda and most importantly, there has been no single complaint against the organizers, unlike at Fatorda. Kudos to GFA vice-president Lavinio Rebello and his team of dedicated volunteers and Bardez members. It has been a smooth sailing for everyone with even fans from Panjim preferring to drive to Duler. 

When asked about the delay in meeting the deadline set by SAG, Elvis D’ Souza, SAG’s junior engineer, remarked that it was due to some major additional works besides the players dressing and rest rooms. 

AIFF’s Chief Executive Officer, Sunando Dar inspected the ongoing works on Monday so as to fix the schedule of I-league matches. The SAG is hopeful of completing the works by mid-February, but one gets the impression that it could be March-end, since the SAG engineer disclosed that there were some changes in the plan which also led to the delay. This is typical Goan planning in which the government engineers seem to excel. 

Sunando was non-committal about matches in Vasco but hastened to add: “Looking at the pace of the work it does not look like that the I-League matches will be held at the ground.” 

GFA’s executive committee member and former general secretary Savio Messias felt that the work should not be completed in a hurry at the cost of quality. He pointed out that I-League matches were going on pretty well at Duler and that the SAG should be given more time to complete the work and get the ground ready for the next season. 

Savio observed that it would be also pragmatic to relay the turf now and not wait till May as it would be difficult to carry on the work in the rainy season. “Since there is already a delay, the work on laying new turf should be taken up immediately after the completion of the present works,” remarked Savio. And, it stands to reason, except perhaps may be with the SAG engineers. 

Football fans are somewhat perplexed over the delay especially when they recall that former sports minister Francisco Monte Cruz had completed the Nehru stadium at Fatorda in a record time of six-months flat. 

RAJ Gomes (Salgaocar), Victor Fernandes (Sporting Clube de Goa), Macario Rodrigues (Churchill Bros), Custodio Almeida (Dempo) told Herald that there is a proposal to have matches at Tilak from March 20, with the first match being perhaps on March 31 after the League break. 

The foursome said that as of now nothing is complete and everyone seems non-committal, since it looks as if there are some problems with the result that work is going on at a very slow pace in Vasco. Initially, the move was to get the works ready by February 21. 

It is learnt that the AIFF is keen to telecast the Goa matches and it was now looking at various possibilities of telecasting the matches from Duler where there are no floodlights. In such a scenario, other matches elsewhere could be shifted to be telecast late in the evening since the Goa matches start at 3.45 p.m.